


catch me now I'm falling

by blackkat



Series: Marvel Drabbles [3]
Category: Marvel 616, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Dimension Travel, Established Relationship, Friendship, Humor, M/M, MCU is the Bad Timeline don't @ me, Post-Avengers: Endgame (Movie)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-30
Updated: 2019-06-30
Packaged: 2020-05-31 06:20:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,024
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19420222
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blackkat/pseuds/blackkat
Summary: There’s a very small version of Tony Stark in the Tower living room.





	catch me now I'm falling

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sprx77](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sprx77/gifts).



> The canon divergence is for 616, because it's my happy place and in my heart things got better there after the Skrull invasion. If I pretend hard enough, Hydra Cap will never have existed, right?
> 
> For the prompt: Post civil war mcu Canon Tony ends up in up in the comics verse, looks around for .2 seconds and decides he's never leaving. Bonus points for comics Tony going "yeah no fuck your dimension, you're from the BAD timeline, I'm keeping you" And them being bros.

There’s a very small version of Tony Stark in the Tower living room.

Caught off guard, Steve pauses in the doorway, watching him mutter to himself and poke furiously at a tablet, seemingly unaware of anything else. It’s probably kind of telling that it takes Steve a minute to gather all the potential reasons into one neat list—shrink ray, maybe, or de-aging spell or ray. Not a surprise son, at least, of that Steve is fairly certain; this Tony looks about the same age as his. Shapeshifter, possibly, though it would have to be a particularly bad one to get Tony so wrong. He’s _short_.

He’s also _not Steve's Tony_ , and since Jarvis said Tony was in the kitchen—

Clearing his throat and making the miniature version startle, Steve pitches his voice to carry and calls, “Tony, is there something you want to tell me?”

Footsteps sound, even as the not-Tony whirls, eyes wide. _Brown_ eyes, which is entirely jarring against a face that could very well be a mirror of Tony's. Steve blinks, almost wanting to step back as the man’s mouth drops open, but before he has to have a reaction, Tony leans around the edge of the doorway.

“Steve!” he says, and even after the mess of the Civil War and Norman Osborn and deleting his memory, he can still smile at Steve like Steve is the best thing he’s seen all day. “You’re back. How was Latveria?”

Steve pulls a face. “Full of Doom,” he says, but smiles back, because Tony's always had an infectious smile when he means it. “Wanda had a bit of a temper tantrum, so there's a little less of it now.”

Tony laughs, warm and amused, and steps fully into the room. He’s carrying a plate with a thick pile of sandwiches, and sets it on the table next to his double. “Less of Doom, or less of Latveria?” he asks.

“Yes,” Steve answers, wry, and when Tony straightens up he holds out a hand. Still smiling, Tony takes it, lets himself be pulled in and kissed, just lightly.

Behind him, the double makes a sound like someone just jabbed him with a cattle prod.

“Tony,” Steve says, pulling back, and gives him a look. “Something you want to tell me?”

Tony grins, unrepentant. “Alternate dimensions,” he says in explanation. “He had an encounter with his world’s Infinity Gauntlet.” Something dark flickers through his eyes, sad and steady, and he twists his fingers into Steve's. “It should have killed him, but it put him here instead.”

“ _He_ can tell his own story,” the other Tony says indignantly, pushing to his feet. “Seeing as he is _right here_ and also was not warned to expect _that_.”

The flap of his hand is probably meant to indicate Steve, who blinks at him, bemused.

“That?” Tony asks, and there’s familiar amusement in the curve of his mouth. “You said there was a Captain America where you were from. I didn’t think I needed to warn you.”

“I take it that you don’t come from a dimension where we’re married?” Steve asks, perfectly innocent. Tony, who knows him all too well, elbows him pointedly, but it’s barely hard enough to feel.

The other Tony looks like several carpets just got pulled out from under him at once. “Married,” he repeats, and then presses a hand over his eyes. “Okay, no, you know what? What about the—the Bucky thing, and the hiding the fact my parents were murdered thing, and the _Siberia_ thing? What about Ultron? What about the Accords? What about _Pepper_? My _wife_ Pepper?”

Steve can feel his Tony tense, just faintly, at that last part, and curls an arm around his waist, squeezing gently at his hip. “I think our universes are fairly different,” he says evenly, and when the other Tony shoots him an incredulous look, he offers up a faintly sheepish smile at the understatement. “How long have the Avengers existed in your world?”

“The Avengers? About ten years,” the other Tony says, and his gaze flickers towards the windows, like the sight of New York is something foreign. “Give or take.”

Judging by his tone, there’s a lot of give or take there. Steve frowns, but before he can say anything, his Tony is pulling away, turning, and his expression is that edge of manic he gets when there's a problem he _needs_ to fix. “Steve, ask him how big his team is. Ask him how many members they’ve had at their largest. Just—ask.”

Steve raises a brow at him, but obligingly looks at the other Tony and asks, “How many on your team?”

The other Tony frowns, like this is an offensive question. “I don’t know,” he asks, and that sarcastic edge is sharp enough to draw blood. “Are we counting before or after the team split over the Accords? Do people count if they were only loyal to you?”

Steve has an uncomfortable, sinking certainty that when he says _Accords_ , he might as well be saying _Civil War_ , though it has a slightly different weight. “Just—humor me,” he says, trying to keep his tone even. He really, really hopes this isn't another team like the Ultimates; Steve isn't entirely sure he’ll ever recover from finding out there’s a world where Tony is a drunk with a brain tumor that’s killing him slowly, and he himself is a murderer who just wants to go back in the ice. And had an affair with _Jan_ , of all people.

The other Tony squints at him, like he’s trying to work out all the angles that come with the question, and that at least is familiar, even if his Tony doesn’t usually direct that look at him anymore. “Nine people? Maybe? Rhodey never called himself an Avenger, but he was an Avenger in our hearts and our security clearances, so. Ten.”

Steve opens his mouth, thinks of the hundreds of rotating members who all still carry their Avengers badges, just a call away if they're ever needed, and closes his mouth again. “Oh,” he says.

“Oh,” Tony agrees, a wry edge to his smile. “And apparently you're _small_ there. He showed me pictures.”

Steve makes a face at him, but is glad for the moment of levity. “You don’t have any room to talk, Tony,” he points out.

The other Tony makes a sound of deep offense. “ _Hey_ , just because someone here fed me growth hormones as a child—”

“You have _lifts_ in your _shoes_ ,” Tony cuts in, laughing, and catches the tablet that the other Tony throws at his head. Pointedly setting it aside, he grins at his alternate self, and says, “Stark Resilient has a board meeting in three hours. Since you're here—”

“I am _not_ running your company so you can play around in the lab all day,” the other Tony says haughtily. “I am on _vacation_ , technically, so if anyone gets to be the lab goblin today, it’s me.”

“We can alternate,” Tony says magnanimously, and when Steve gives him a look—because that is _not_ the standard procedure for alternate selves, and seeing as Tony's the one who wrote the protocol for these situations, he should know—he lifts an eyebrow back, full of meaning.

Steve has a feeling he knows precisely what Tony is trying to say, and raises one right back.

“Can you not?” the other Tony asks, making a face. “The _we’re married and have been for a decade_ looks are creepy. Please. Have a little mercy. I’m honestly more comfortable with you two shoving your tongues down each other’s throats.”

“Twelve years, not ten,” Steve corrects, and it counts, even if they were fighting on opposite sides of a war for part of it, and he was dead for another part.

Tony gives him a fond smile, one hand going to curl around Steve's elbow. “All right,” he tells his double. “You know the lab codes. Just keep an eye on the tests I'm running on the Bleeding Edge armor, if you're down there.”

The way the other Tony's eyes light up in incredibly familiar, and makes Steve smile. “Sure thing,” the other Tony says, faux-casual, and then ruins it by adding, “I want you to know that I thought my lab was nice, but yours is like _candyland_ and I am _never leaving ever_.”

Tony grins, like it’s a victory, and waves him on. “Have fun,” he says, and the other Tony tosses him a salute, steals back the tablet he was working on, and heads for the elevator.

Steve waits for it to close behind him before he turns to face his Tony, and he’s just in time to watch the humor flicker and fade from Tony's expression, replaced by weariness and grief. Lifting a hand, he rubs at his forehead with a sigh, and Steve reaches for him automatically, gathering him close.

“Tony?” he asks gently.

“Thanos won, in his world,” he says quietly. “For a few years, but—half the universe was gone. And when they undid it, Thanos almost beat them again. He used the Infinity Gauntlet, but…”

But. Steve breathes out, resting his temple against Tony's. Sometimes, in some worlds, a normal human can survive using the Gauntlet. He’s guessing the other Tony's world wasn’t like that.

“No way back?” he asks, and Tony shakes his head without lifting it from Steve's. They're close enough to share breath, and it makes Steve think, all over again, of Mount Rushmore and Tony giving his last breath to save Steve from the poison. His fingers tighten on Tony's waist, and like he can read Steve's thoughts, Tony casts him a wry smile.

“We’re not friends there,” he says, a bewildered, lost note in his voice, and Steve closes his eyes, hardly able to believe it. Always, always, from the very first, Tony has been his constant in this world. Even when he only knew Iron Man, even when Tony Stark was a handsome enigma whose smile was full of secrets, Steve knew he could count on both of them. They were friends long before they were lovers, were friends even when they were at each other’s throats, and Steve can hardly imagine anything different.

“Then,” he says, and keeps it as light as he can, “it’s a good thing we don’t have to send him back.”

Tony glances at him, and there’s a smile tugging at his mouth, a fondness in his eyes that makes Steve warm all the way down to his bones. “It is,” he agrees. “especially since I already started the paperwork to name him as my long-lost twin brother.”

“As long as we don’t call him Greg,” Steve says, pulling a face. Earth-1610 was a bad one in every way.

Tony laughs softly. “Someday you’ll get over it,” he says, curling his fingers over the nape of Steve's neck. “It’s hardly worse than the one where I was the Sorcerer Supreme.”

“I liked the outfit,” Steve defends loyally, and kisses him again. “So how are we going to tell the team there are now two of you?”

Tony's smile is wicked. “Luke is going to be _thrilled_ ,” he says cheerfully. “We need to tell him somewhere I can get video of his face. I need it. For _posterity_.”

Steve laughs, tugging him towards the couch. “All right,” he agrees, and glances at the clock. “You said your meeting is in thee hours?”

“Two and a half, now,” Tony says, and that expression is a challenge, cocky and sly. “Think you’re up to it, Cap?”

Steve changes course, pulling him towards the bedrooms instead. “I think I can make an effort,” he retorts, and Tony laughs, leaning forward to kiss him even as Steve reaches out to lift him up.

“I can't believe you’re _small_ ,” he says, right against Steve's lips. “Really, you're about half the width you are here. It’s _adorable_.”

“And you're about half the height,” Steve says, though it’s a definite exaggeration. Still, it makes Tony laugh again, and Steve kisses it out of his mouth, kicking the bedroom door shut behind him.


End file.
